Millions of individuals engage and routinely participate in recreational sport of many varieties. Participants of the sports typically will engage in various practice routines so as to increase their ability and to manage certain situations or techniques that may be required during the playing of the game. One such sport that millions routinely engage in is basketball.
Basketball requires a variety of skills that must be developed through hours of practice such as but not limited to, dribbling, passing and shooting. Participants of basketball will routinely practice the aforementioned skills in order to improve their performance and increase their contribution to the team on which they play. One problem with many of these drills is that the requirement of more than one player in order to execute the drill. For example, in order to increase a player's ability to pass, most effective drills require a minimum of two people to properly execute the drill so as to increase the performance of the athlete.
Shooting in another important skill in the game of basketball. Athletes must not only perfect their style of shooting such as but not limited to jump shots or free throw shooting, they must also learn to manage and execute their shot in the presence of defenders. One common practice drill for players to learn to execute their shooting in the presence of defenders is to utilize at least two players wherein on player will engage in offense and practice their shooting while the other player engages in defense and attempts to create game-like scenarios so as to provide the offensive player with the opportunity to practice and execute their shooting style with the presence of the defender. One problem with these conventional drills is the requirement for more than one player. The simulation and practice of learning to shoot a basketball in the presence of the defender utilizing two or more people limits the offensive practice time for at least one of the individuals engaged. Additionally, many athletes that work diligently on the sport of basketball may practice at time or for durations wherein other individuals are not available. Further, as is known to those skilled in the art, the ability to practice and perfect a player's shooting ability while in the presence of defenders leads to significantly increased results during a game situation.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device that can simulate a defender so as to provide a training atmosphere for a single player in order to develop and improve their ability to shoot a basketball in a game situation.